The British photographer John Rankin Waddell on camping in Scotland, a remote
beach in Brazil and an adventurous photo shoot in the north west of Kenya.

I travel every week for work, mainly to LA, New York, Milan or Paris. I tend to travel for holidays three times a year. I like to stay in Britain for at least one of those holidays, so that I can take my dogs with me. Last year I rented a house for 10 weeks at Saunton Sands in Devon and went down at weekends. I can highly recommend Saunton Sands. It has one of the longest beaches I have ever seen, which weirdly doesn’t get too full. Earlier this summer, I went to Bali for two weeks – I quite like to just get away and do nothing somewhere warm. We stayed at the Samaya Hotel, in Seminyak, and also visited Ubud. Bali is fantastic.

Location you would most like to photograph?

I love photographing clouds so to photograph from a hot air balloon would be incredible but it’s kind of been done. I don’t really chase locations or places. I’m mainly a studio photographer – so just getting out into the world is a blessing for me. I would like to go and photograph the Northern Lights though – that would be amazing.

God no. The only time I’ve rented a plane was when I had to go to Dusseldorf in December 2010. The weather was very bad – snow meant that all normal flights were grounded, so that was a necessity. I tend to travel with one assistant. Someone else travels with the photography equipment. You can rent what you need from most major cities but you do tend to get the worst equipment unless you are a regular renter.

Is Scotland, where you were born, a favourite travel destination?

I will always have Scotland in my heart. My family lived in Glasgow until I was 10. We used to go to two places for camping or caravanning holidays. Bute, which is the little island just off the west coast, and Golspie, in Sutherland.

Earliest travel memory?

Aside from my Scottish holidays, I remember a family camping trip to Grange-over-Sands, in Cumbria, which was very beautiful. Surprisingly, I wasn’t a keen photographer at all as a child, none of us were.

Bute

What do you need for a perfect holiday?

I need a swimming pool, my wife, ideally my dogs, and a book. I love swimming. I always swim when I’m on holiday and I always read to relax. I also need a good internet connection.

Favourite hotel?

The Sunset Marquis in LA. I first stayed there in 1994. I am now there on average once a month. It is a bit like a home away from home. I get the same room every time I stay - they look after me well. They also have two pools, one at the front of the villa and one at the back – the latter took me two years to discover, which was a bit annoying as I am such a keen swimmer.

Favourite city?

Rome. I first went when I was 34 and what I love about the city is that you can be walking down a street or a mews and stumble across the most incredible art in the world. I am a really big fan of Bernini and Caravaggio. The food there is amazing too, I love Italian food.

Most memorable holiday meal?

My wife and I went on a riding holiday at the Caballo Blanco Trekking Centre, in Andalucia, for our honeymoon. We went for 10 days and stayed in a really simple b&b, La Casa del Viento. Anne, the lady who ran it, also made us salads in the evening, which I remember as being lovely – I like it when you get that personal touch.

Best piece of travel advice?

Don’t drink on planes. It really is true that one glass of wine on a plane is equivalent to three in a normal bar.

Most adventurous travel experience?

Probably going to Turkana in the north west of Kenya with Oxfam for a 10-day charity trip in 2011. There was fighting going on about 25km away, so it was a dangerous area. One day, when we were travelling between the campsite we were staying in and the small village we were photographing at, we were driving a van and came across a small boy in the middle of the road, carrying a Kalashnikov while accompanied by a herd of goats. For a middle-aged photographer from North London, that was pretty exciting.

Turkana, Kenya

The most remote place you’ve been?

I went to Brazil for a week a few years ago, as part of a British Council trip in association with the Barbican Art Gallery, and went to a really remote beach to do a fashion shoot. The light was incredible and the people were very friendly. I love the fact that the moon is upside down in the sky and smiles at you when it is a crescent.

Worst travel experience?

Losing my passport and money when visiting New York for work. It was a three-day trip, in the early summer I think, and I lost the items on the second day. It was embarrassing having to borrow money and ask my agent to sort out my plane travel.

Favourite airline?

British Airways or Air New Zealand. Both are excellent – I love the latter, especially as it has an hilarious inflight movie, with elves and hobbits. Least favourite would be easyJet, because in my experience people on those flights tend to drink a lot and be fairly rude to other passengers.

What do you hate about holidays?

Flying. I’ve done it so much that it holds no excitement for me now.

Where next?

I would like to go to Portugal or Italy later on this year. I’d also love to go to the Arles Photo Festival, in France, as I’ve been told it’s incredible. I would also love to travel to India or China.

Rankin has donated an artwork to the Macmillan De’Longhi Art Auction, which is taking place at the Royal College of Art, London, on September 23 in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. For tickets to the auction, email: delonghi.artauction@clarioncomms.co.uk or see macmillan.org.uk.